Life Uncut - The best of THE PICKUP - 16th July

Episode Date: July 16, 2023

It's our weekly round up! The best of the week from our National radio show THE PICKUP.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Uncut acknowledges the traditional custodians of country whose lands were never ceded. We pay our respects to their elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. This episode was recorded on Darug Wollamutta land. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Laura. I'm Brittany. And I'm Mitch.

And the team's back together again after a couple of weeks break. Oh, you sound so depressed, Laura. It's like you hate to be here with us. No, quite the opposite. We all hugged each other in a massive embrace when we saw each other for the first time. Well, you look so different, Mitch. Do I? Because you're on your health kick.

Yeah, what have you dropped now? I've dropped 10 kilos. Wow. In how many weeks? Seven. Two days. You've done a lot of pooping. Seven weeks, eight weeks.

It's very, very impressive. And I say this because, I mean, obviously I don't want to focus on the fact that you've lost 10 kilos, but I know that you were very unhappy before and that's what it is to celebrate. Yeah, I didn't have a number on it or anything. I don't have a number set or a set goal because I think that's very unhealthy to count. like kilos lost but it's how I feel and I feel great you guys know I've got so much more energy like you couldn't shut shut me up before and now you're like it's worse you literally were like uh when are we gonna finish recording because I've I'm gonna go for a walk he brings I've never known

you to want to go for a walk ever no he's got a sports bag he brings it to work and now he goes in between the pickup and the night show he just exercises around shout out to lululemon miranda the girl there loves she loves the pickup and she served me and she went I just want to say I love the pick up and I love Life Uncut and I went awesome. I mouth stuffed this girl. I didn't get it. Do you know what I you just made me think something. I always called it until not that long ago, Lululemon.

What? You did not. Yeah, in my head never out loud but I always, whenever I read it because I always thought surely a brand wouldn't be called Lululemon so in my head I thought it must be a French brand that was like Lululemon. Lululemon. But it's just Lululemon. Like Gukai.

Love myself a bit of the Gukai. You know what I saw the other day, that Vjush. I was with Britt and I said, how do you pronounce that store? Vjesh. Vush? Like the vibrator? Yeah. No, no, no.

The store, V-J-O-O-S-H. Vjush. Remember we were walking and we saw it? Yeah. Do you know what? It was an educational walk. I'm going to say this. From someone who owns a business, if you're out there and you're going to start your own

business, pick a name that is easily read so that people know what it's called. Lemon is easily read. I just thought it must have been a bit fancier. Lemon! Well, look, it was a very big show this week. It was so beautiful to be back together again. Yeah. Mitch, you had some big personal things to share.

I did many personal things. So I moved back in with my mum and dad. The weight loss has been sparked by the depressing sadness of my five-year marriage. His marriage ended. With my wife, Betty. Okay, you were quite dramatic. His marriage ended.

My five-year relationship ended. I moved back with my mum and dad and Brit came over to visit my dad at my house. She saw some things. But we talked to my dad on the show. She saw some things. She'll never come home. Britt hasn't been the same.

I also like that you said Britt came over to visit my dad. I clocked that too, but I just left it. She did. Anyway, we speak to my dad on the show this week because I thought everything was going swimmingly, living with mum and dad, but it turns out that he has a very different side of the story. Yeah, which I expected, to be honest.

No, I didn't. You live in a bit of a dream world sometimes. Yeah, maybe. Like the things you've been asking your family to do for you since you moved home, it's pretty wild. That was pretty entitled, Mitch. I made my little sister Rachel shake my protein shakes. I'm like, put that in the NutriBullet for me, Rachel.

Who waxes your back, though? Oh, come on. His mom, yeah. Michelle. Mom does. No, we also have some pretty funny calls, actually. I told you guys, well, I told you that a monkey stole my Invisalign. Very traumatic event.

But the calls we had off the back of that about how an animal has done you dirty was so funny. There are a lot of dirty animals out there. Anyway, we also, I mean, as much as we had many, many laughs on this show, we also spoke to a woman named Emma who she's currently living in a caravan with her two kids and it is such an incredibly sad story but what we touched on is the increased rate in employed homelessness that's happening across Australia it is such an important topic I think anybody who listens to this will really feel for the situation that Emma's in and you can't help but think how is it that we live in such a wealthy progressed country and there are people who are

living this way. Well, it's because you normally would associate homelessness with unemployment, for example. So the fact that we have seen a rise in employed people with full-time jobs still not being able to afford the cost of living now and not being able to stay in a house, it's a really serious problem that is, I don't know what the country is going to do with it. How are we working full-time and we still can't afford the rent? Especially with Emma, she's a single mum with two kids. It's a hard lesson, but an important lesson. All that and so much more coming up. Now, I have a bit of a change of pace for you guys today. We've heard so much recently about the rent increases

and the rental crisis that's happening in Australia. But something that I don't think has had a lot of airtime but is becoming more and more prolific is the increase in homelessness across Australia. There's actually been an increase in people who are employed, who have jobs, but cannot afford how much these rental rates and increases are affecting them. It's crazy that we're in a first world country like Australia

and there are people that have full-time jobs that can't afford to live on the street. Emma Lenz, she's 43 years old. She has two children. She had a video that recently went viral where she was taking on sort of property investors saying, how is it possible that I have a job, that I run a business and I cannot afford the rent in my town that I live anymore?

And she's been living in a caravan with her two kids because of this. We have Emma on the phone. Emma, welcome to The Pickup. Hi, guys. Thanks for having me. Emma, just tell us about how you ended up where you are now, how you ended up in the caravan. I moved here from Sydney five years ago, raised in Sydney, grew up in Cronulla, went to a nice Catholic girls' school, did all the right things in life. As I got older, I became a single parent.

So I was renting in Sydney and renting as a single parent, you know, it's really expensive. And I did the smart thing and moved to the country for cheaper housing. And so did half of the single parents in the country, I think. So what's happened now is that all of us that came out here for cheaper housing, we've caused a rental crisis out here. There is no cheaper housing left. I moved here five years ago and there was over 60 houses available online for about $250 a week. So I thought I'd be okay. And in the last 18 months to two years, half of Australia sort of moved out to the regions and there's no houses left.

Now when I go and look for a rental, I might be like up against, you know, two, three hundred other people. and if your income is less than about $60,000, $70,000 a year, the real estate agents will just throw your applications in the bin. You won't even get through to speaking to a landlord so you've got to have money to get a rental now. As I keep saying in my TikTok, I've paid half a million dollars in rent on my own in the last 20 years and I've been denied home loans so many times

but if I had have been allowed to get one, I wouldn't be in this position. I would have had equity. I would have had that half a million dollars. I would have had a house to sell. I could have rented a room out. The more ruthless it gets, It's like the more competition there is for the low-income and it's the houses,

the crueler the conditions are and the crueler the real estate agents are becoming. Like my last rental, every single blind was broken. Every single door handle was broken. Went from $260 a week. They kicked that person out and put me in at $420. And, yeah, and I would say, can we get the blind fixed? Because we just want to open and close the blinds. And the real estate would say, no, if you don't like it, leave.

Oh, my gosh. That's disgusting. And they kept my whole bond. Yeah, they kept my whole bond when I left too and their real estate's now, what I've noticed in my last two rentals is they just keep bonds because you have to fight it

so they're just going to keep your bond. And how did it turn out that you're now in a caravan at the moment with your two kids? Well, I rented two rooms off a lady in town that she's on her own in a five-bedroom house but after about three or four weeks, she kicked us out.

I was going to go and sleep. I'm a rural fire brigade volunteer and I was going to go and sleep in my fire shed and I had to send both kids down to their dads and my brigade officer said, no, you can't sleep in the shed, just come here and we'll sort something out for you. And so there was about a month where I just didn't know what I was going to do and I put it out online and another couple in town have loaned me a caravan.

So obviously I can't go back to renting now because even if I could get a rental and pay $350, $400 a week, which sort of they've gone up to about $500 and $600 now here, you only get a six-month lease. So I can't live like that. Like I can't live and only get six-month leases not knowing what the price is going to be in six months from now or if I have to pay that little bit. No, of course not. Emma, how are your kids coping in all this?

They deserve a lot better. I break my heart. That money I spent on rent, that was my kids' future. You know, I could have paid for two university educations out of that. 100%. You know, now we're, yeah, living in this caravan, and this is what, like, my friends have set up a GoFundMe because we don't have running water in this caravan,

and it's very old. It's about 45 years old, and it has been leaking for about the last 12 years, So I've been fixing it up for the owners. But my daughter really struggled because I was going to rent a room and moved into the house with the lady. She was like, why can't we just have our own house? Why do we have to live with someone else?

And she couldn't understand that there just wasn't rentals available and that if you're on a single income, the real estate is going to gatekeep and not let you apply for houses like they just laugh at you, you know? It's also a basic human right. Sorry, I'm really upset. It's a basic human right to have water. I can't even talk. Sorry.

Just to have water and you don't even have water and I'm so sorry. Yeah, thank you. It is hard, yeah. And my kids are really smart, you know, and they're brilliant at school and stuff, and they don't understand. They think that, I don't know, maybe that I did something wrong or that if other people, like if their other friends have houses,

why doesn't mum? But lately what's happened here, like it's really, really bad in the regions. Like everyone that says move to the country for cheaper housing is the worst thing you could do. And for the people that are already out here that are really low socioeconomically, there's a massive aged population and disability population here. And those are all the people that have been pushed out by all this sort of house grabbing. Like there were so many houses for sale out here before COVID.

Now there's none. And they've all been brought sight unseen, you know, by people that can afford to invest. And so the tenants have been pushed out. And all we've got left to go is sort of a tent in the outback. And so my daughter is having, you know, there are a lot more kids around here that are homeless. I've been helping out with about four other kids that are bouncing between homes. So these are the kind of people that are out here that are being pushed out into homelessness. Listen, if you want to, Emma, what's your TikTok?

Give your TikTok a little plug if people want to, you know, go. My TikTok is Mind of the Midnight Sun. Mind of the Midnight Sun. All right. You can follow Emma's journey. Listen, love to you from all of us here at The Pickup. Yeah, you're doing a great job. Thanks, guys.

I really appreciate you bringing awareness to this. Anytime. I mean, it's crazy. I mean, listen, the number of people without a home rose by 5.2% over the last five years. Like it's a countrywide pandemic. Yeah, and something else to keep in mind is that nearly half of those currently seeking Australian homelessness charities have jobs. And it's the reason why they're homeless is because of the rent increases. Nobody should have nowhere to go.

And when you're at your most vulnerable, 300 people are being turned away a day from homelessness services, a day in Australia. So people that are actually trying to go and get help, they're working. they're doing all the right things, and it's still not enough. Earlier this week, we were talking about how animals have done you dirty because I've been done dirty by so many animals. But just about 10 days ago, my Invisalign was stolen in Bali by a monkey. That sounds like a pig. It wasn't.

That is a pig. What is that? It's a monkey. That's a chimpanzee. A chimpanzee did not steal Britt's Invisalign. Although, Britt, I don't know anyone who has as many stories as you do about animals that have done horrible things to you. You got bitten by a camel when we went to Uluru.

Yep. My dog has stolen my moon cup, amongst other things. I got done really badly on national TV by the Honey Badger. Honey Badger, that's the worst. There's been a lot of animals out there. That was the worst animal maiming in Australian history, in my opinion. Anyway, we put the call out. When did an animal do you dirty?

Let's go to Sophia. Hi, Sophia. What animal did you dirty? Oh, well, it was actually a pig. Oh. The way she started, oh, well, it was a pig. What did the pig do? Well, I was actually on a Kentucky trip.

It was about four years ago. With a pig? It was a man, wasn't it? It was a backpacker. Yeah, so one of the adventures was actually out to this farm when we were in the Netherlands. And it was like a, we were wearing clogs. Ah, irrelevant piece of information, but thank you.

We were wearing clogs, so we were out and about on the farm. We were making cheese. We were wearing clogs. You said that. I decided to go up to this pig and have a photo. Yeah. You know, as you do. Anyway, I felt something charging at me from behind.

Little did I know that it was another pig, and the pig came and bit me right on the bum. Oh, no. And was the pig in clogs? What was the context? The pig was eating cheese in clogs. No, that's enough, Sophia. Interesting story.

Tessa, what happened with an animal, Tessa? Hi. Hi. Okay, so when I was 25, I was volunteering in an animal refuge in South America, in Bolivia, to be exact. Good for you. Yeah, and there was a bunch of animals there, but in particular, there were some spider monkeys, and one in particular was quite naughty and she used to take a liking to certain volunteers.

So luckily I was one of them and she would follow me around the park and she would just stare at me from a distance and if she got close enough, she would try and grab onto my legs to, you know. So this went on for a while and then she was getting humped by a spider. She really was getting dirty. Yeah, yeah, yeah, getting jiggy with it, absolutely. So it was a little bit, yeah, unnerving. But then she used to also break into the cabins and she'd steal toothpaste and weird things like that.

But one morning... For my invisible eyes, it's the same monkey. Yeah, well, I was warned about her when I got there. So they said that she was a little bit like this. But I didn't really know until I was experiencing it for myself. Got it. So one morning I woke up and I felt something at the end of my bed and I'm like, what's going on? And I woke up and rolled over and there she was staring at me from the end of the bed.

Her hand on my leg, and... Oh, she was making a move. She was, yeah, yeah, she absolutely was. But, yeah, I just, oh, my gosh, there used to be a saying, it was just another day at La Senda Verde, and that's exactly what rang true with this situation. I haven't heard that one. All right, Gerard, quickly, wrap this up for us.

When did an animal do you dirty, buddy? So I was at SeaWorld, and we were doing one of them animal encounters, and I was attacked by a penguin. Like a little penguin or a big penguin? Like a fairy penguin. No, no, one of the big ones. An emperor.

An emperor, yeah. What's an attack from a penguin? Did it flap you with its wing? Did it charge you? Did it like, what? No, so I must have slept too close to the pebbles he gave to his girlfriend and he grabbed the back of my leg with his beak, drawing blood and everything. Oh, he bit you.

Oh, my God, Gerard. Yeah, he bit me. Penguins mate for life. You should take that as a badge of honour. He was coming for you. He was dumping his penguin wife for you. Yeah. He's seen me at competition maybe.

Yeah. I don't know. That's so funny. Or maybe he wanted my wife. I don't know. Maybe. I don't. I doubt it, Gerard.

I'm sure she's beautiful, but I do doubt that. Hey, I had a little break, a little holiday. But as you know, during that time off, I moved back in with my mum and dad, my parents. I'm home. I do know this because I experienced it for myself on the weekend. Yes. Britt came over for a little hang.

It is like nothing you have ever seen. I was one foot in the door and there were four pictures just of Mitch and his awards lined up. He'd already hung them on the wall himself, just him and his awards. No, Mum and Dad have done that, thank you very much. Then I took two more steps into the living room. They have this beautiful living room and smack bang in the middle of it is Mitch's fluoro pink velour chair that says Kiss FM on it.

No, it says Kiss FM. I was gifted it for five years with Kiss. In the middle of the living room. You've taken over that poor house. I've moved in with my parents. I broke up with my partner. For five years, I needed some R&R. I've moved back in with mum and dad.

And I've got to put my stuff somewhere. And it's good. I'm enjoying it. How has it been so far? How have your parents reacted to having a bit of Mitch back in the house? Okay, so seriously, I think they're loving it. I know they're loving it. We're all having fun.

I get along with my mum and dad. I'm very lucky. My little sister Rachel's there too. I do not believe that they're loving it. Absolutely not. No, they are loving it. There's actually nothing to report on. I fit in, I pay for the groceries that I need,

like the big ticket items in the grocery. Can you tell me? Hang on, what's a big ticket item? I pay for my toothpaste and my deodorant. Mitch, that's like $3. What stuff aren't you paying for? I don't pay for the food, like groceries. I'm not paying rent as well.

Do you pay bills? No, I don't pay bills. So no food, no bills, no rent. That's the point. I was a bird, a sparrow with a bruised wing, and my parents scooped me up and put me back in the nest to heal. You are a spoiled little thing. For a few months.

I mean, we spoke to your mum recently and she said that she was thinking about making you pay a bit of board, you know, eventually. Yeah, no. She was like, how long do you reckon you're going to stay there with your mum and your dad? No board. I'll be there six months. Mitch's poor dad, he's like a big CEO, right?

I won't tell you where he works, but he's a big, big shot. He works from home. We walked in. He was on this super important Zoom meeting. Mitch just goes, puts his protein in the blender. He's like causing all sorts of boiling eggs, the microwaves. going. It's wild. They can't be happy to have you there. They love to, you know

what, I knew this is exactly where you were going to take it. I knew you'd rag on me. You'd think that I'd ruin the family home. No, it's not the case. I've got the patriarch of the family, Mark Turi, here on the line to back me up. Dad, you love having me home, don't you? Hi, Mark. Hi,

guys. I don't know what to say. Well, do you actually love having him home? Because he just thinks that he's like God's gift to you guys oh god do i tell the truth or don't i the truth what do i do dad i prepped you on this say what i told you no yeah say what we spoke about we we love mitch okay but we also know that mitch can take up a lot of space and i don't mean that about you specifically i mean about your things what do you mean dad okay look i won't be emotional i'll be factual after mitchell moved in

we'd only had a meeting with our financial planner planning out our retirement plans for the next five years and he gave us a strict budget and as soon as Mitch moved in oh god shit bloody hell number one I had to get a plumber in within five days to clear out the sewage oh because he did a big turd burger wait I'm sorry you blocked your own toilet the pipes were blocked before I got there I do not believe that you know why you're doing big poops because you're eating them out of house and home no no no that's what are you flushing that's not my fault wet wipes. I have a very sensitive butt region. You can't use wet wipes.

What else is he doing, Mark? Oh, I'm sorry, Mitchell. Then the plumber, forget the plumber, the carpenter. I had to get the carpenter in. Mitchell's got about 40 suits and they don't fit in the wardrobe. So we had to find a cavity under the stairs and we had to get a carpenter in to remodel

it to let it carry. After, go with me, after I beat a bunning three times to buy different bloody hanging racks that all collapsed under the weight of the suits. You've customised a wardrobe for your grown son. Yeah, they built me a custom wardrobe. But under the stairs, it was dead space.

How much did this cost to customise a wardrobe? Well, $200 for the carpenter. But what about the other stuff? I reckon $200 of things I threw out from bunnies. It wouldn't take the weight of all the bloody suits. This is not how this was supposed to go. Okay, what about food? Why don't, why, I mean, I'm only assuming Mitch can consume some food.

Why are you letting him off that one? I'm sorry, Mitch. I have to tell it as it is. He just has the most exotic taste. Like it's King Island. It's brie. He gets this Italian bloody salami shit that's so expensive. Like King Island cheese.

Everything's $10 a packet. You know what he's doing? He's just capitalising because you don't have to pay. Every time we go out to lunch and I say it's on me, he gets all the most expensive stuff. Oh, look, I'm sorry, Mitch, because I know we had an agreement, but I can't lie, not to the girls. Mark, we love Mitch.

How long do you reckon you're going to have him living back in the house? Because everyone says they want their kids to move back in, but usually it's for a finite amount of time. I want to stay married, so I'd say six months, exactly what Mitchell said. Okay, so, Mark, what's the overall, if you had to give him a tenant score, what are we giving him? Oh, this is bullshit. This is an Uber rating.

Please, please, quiet. This debate doesn't involve you. What are you giving him? Out of 10. He's really thinking. Eight and a half because I love him. Oh, Mark. Now let's wrap it on that note.

Now let's give us the real one, Mark. Yeah, give us the real one. As an impartial tenant if he wasn't your son. Two. That's bullshit. Oh, you've got to get out of there, Mish. I'm going to tribunal. I'm taking you to the high court.

You'll get nothing back because you haven't spent anything. No bond, no nothing. All right, Dad. See you tonight. What's Mum cooking for dinner, please? Get out of here. Caviar on steak. I hope so.

Love you, Dad. Thanks, Mark. See you, Mark. Thank you, Mark. Yeah, yeah, very funny. He did not stick to plan. I prepped him and said, just say I'm really, I'm fine. He can't lie to us.

Mitch, we know you and we know you so well and we know that it's just not true. But you know what? Your parents created this, so it's their fault. Totally. Let's blame Mark. There has been a scientific breakthrough that I think we all need to talk about because this is something that could stop the nation, stop the world. My.

The world. Do you, question, do you cry when you cut onions? Yes. I have a very good technique for stopping it, though. You wear goggles when you cut them. Put on a pair of kids' goggles. And you wonder why you and Matt haven't been intimate in four decades. Laura's in the kitchen with, like, snow goggles on, like snowboarding.

You don't need big ones. Just swimming goggles work perfect. Cut them up, off you go. All right, well, I have a solution for you. Possibly. In an exclusive at Woolworths, as of today, they've just been released, they have developed something called the Tearless Onion. Oh.

They have developed, through heaps of science-y science, an onion that you can cut and not cry. Because they took out these, there's something called volatile compounds that makes you cry. They took them out over loads of science-y science-y years, and now apparently you can cut an onion and not cry. It sounds like it'll probably give you cancer, though. Who's they, though? The scientists! Matt Preston in a white lab coat? Matt Moran.

The scientists. The onion scientists. Okay, I believe this, yeah. Well, so I did want to put it to the test. So I went this morning. You did not. And I got a bag of onions. Yeah, here we go.

And I also here, I'm just going to got you guys a breadboard. Oh, we got chopping boards. This is fun. Take your breadboard each. Oh, wait. So we're going to put these new no-tear onions to the test. Yes. They are called the Happy Chop.

Oh, give me one. Tearless onion. Okay, Laura. All right, go long. I'm throwing you one down. Okay, I've got an onion. Mitch. Oh, these are gorgeous.

Mitch, you have this one. I would like to confirm that this looks exactly like an onion that would make you cry. There's nothing about this that looks different to a normal onion. This one looks, okay, they look, smell them? They smell. They smell good, like garlic. Oh, we all have knives. I'm going to play some onion chopping music.

Take your knives. Get your chopping boards. They smell less onion-y though. Now, you guys need to look. Actually, why don't we get a bit closer as we cut them? Okay, good idea. This is the chopping. Okay, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to wave it around my eyes.

No, you have to chop more because you have to release the tear. Oh, it's released. No, chop. Release the tear. Oh, there's a bit of sting. If you're going to hold them in this close proximity, there's a little bit of tingling. Okay.

It smells delicious. Like, oh, it's a sting. It has a slight sting, but I'm not crying. There's nothing really different. Mitch, Mitch. Wow, my one's a pungent one. Mitch, are you? Oh, my God, are you?

Look at me. I'm tearing up. No, I'm crying. This didn't work. Mine is great. Mine works fine. This is like a really scientific crossbreeding from the onion community. It's like an inbred onion community, and they don't cry anymore.

I would like to say this is actually truly amazing. I know you can't see what I'm doing, but I'm here with two half onions sitting below my eyes. There's no tears. There's no nothing. Hold on. I've cut mine at least a metre away and I'm sobbing. Like I've just watched Marley and Me.

They're not working. Look at this tear. Look at the tear. It's not working on me. Mitch, it's because I gave you a real onion. That's the world's shittest prank. Hey, Mitch. I'm like, put your face close to it, Mitch.

Rub it around your face. Mitch, that's because I gave you a real onion. Wow. Mitch, that's because I gave you level seven chilli. Call prank patrol. We got a reboot on our hands. Call prank patrol. Oh, my God.

So I'm crying. So wait, I've got the old school onion. Yeah, but put this one near your face. Okay. No tears for that one. I might do a full tiny abbot. Oh, yeah, delicious. Nobody come near Mitch for the rest of the day.

Okay, in all honesty, they do say it tastes the same, but it's slightly sweeter. Are you tasting sweetness there? It actually is really sweet. It's like an apple. Oh, that's really delicious. Have another bite then. I'm good, thanks.

Ladies, you both know how to drive a vehicle, correct? Not well. I drive very well. Laura does not. If you saw Laura's vehicle, you would be shooketh to the core. I currently only have half of a side mirror, but that's not my fault. But it looks, the fact that I haven't replaced it is my fault. It's also been 18 months, yeah.

That's a you issue that we need to unpack after, yeah. I've got a story for you that will truly shock you to your core. This is pretty big in the news at the moment. a Melbourne man, was driving around with his girlfriend, right, on Filbert Street in Caulfield South. That's like the southeast of Melbourne, right? Driving around with his girlfriend late at night, right? And picture this.

He's driving. Girlfriend's in the car. He drives past quite an unsettling scene. He sees a car that is, what he said, was strategically parked in the bend of a quiet cul-de-sac suburban street. So just before the bend of the cul-de-sac, this car is parked in a really odd sort of way, suspiciously dark and he could hear noises coming from it it was late at night so you do what anyone

would do right he's with his girlfriend he goes i'm gonna drive up and just see what's going on his girlfriend noticed that there was a female body on the floor outside the vehicle oh my god that's horrible terrifying right yeah he said she was holding her leg screaming horrifically as if she was about to die pass away um she was telling me to come outside get out of the car get out of the car. Help me, please, please. I'm dying. Please help me. Middle of the night, right? I mean, that would just, it would freak you out. That's very scary. I mean, also you just get out of the car.

Yeah. Well, your fight or flight would kick in, wouldn't it? Anyway, what this guy did, he says, I don't know why I didn't open my door. I locked my doors. I drove off. I had a gut feeling. I can't tell you what it was. The girlfriend couldn't understand why. He just said, call triple zero. Victoria police arrived within minutes. They turn up. The car's nowhere to be found. The car is gone. Oh, the woman and the car are gone. The woman and the car, gone. This is like an X-file.

It is like an X-file, right? But no, it's brought up a good topic, which is in Australia, I don't know if you know, the rise of carjackings through the roof. Did you know this? Oh, so they think that this was an elaborate ploy for a carjacking. Potentially, for this guy to get out of the car, for the woman to not be hurt, there'd be a man or another woman waiting in the wings and they steal his car.

I know in certain areas that there's been this massive increase in crime, like in Queensland, across Melbourne. And so maybe in this instance, I mean, obviously we want to get out, we want to help people, but at the same time, I do think you have to think about what's happening around you. Late at night, middle of the night, why is a woman laying on the ground in the middle of a suburban street? Yeah, but of course every part of you would want to get out and help.

Like any human that you were seeing in that much distress, you want to help them, right? But then I watch so much true crime now and I listen to so many true crime podcasts that that gut instinct of like something might not be right. I think he did the right thing by, like, by calling the police. But then you think you're leaving someone on the side of the road. I guess the question is, is what is the right thing to do?

Yeah, well, listen, that's why we've got Jim Keogh, former police superintendent. He's been doing stuff like this for a long time. Welcome to The Pickup. Jim. Hey, Jim. Good afternoon. Jim, is this a common occurrence?

Is this a real thing that people are feigning horrific injuries on the side of the road so that someone can steal the car? Absolutely. You've got to ask yourself, why is this happening? And, of course, the new cars, the high-end cars now, are a lot harder to steal. So we're seeing a big increase in break-ins to homes in the middle of the night to steal the car keys. And, unfortunately, we're seeing the carjackings, as you have just described, take over so that they can actually, the crooks, that is, access these cars. So you're very right in saying it is on the rise.

That is so scary. Okay, if somebody enters, like if you're at home and you find out that someone's entered your house and you think it is because they had the intention of stealing your car or whatever it is, what's the course of action? Like what should you do in that instance? Give them the car, right?

You just let them go, right? Well, sadly here in Queensland the crime rate's that high now they're recommending leave your car keys in a visible spot so the cook takes the car keys and takes the car and leaves you alone. That wouldn't be my cup of tea watching my car drive down the street, let me tell you. I guess the worry is that if you don't leave the car keys somewhere that's visible,

they might just enter further into your house and then you're set with a whole other issue of problems. My dad puts the car keys in the fridge on top of his sandwich. This is true. No, this is true, Jim. So he doesn't forget it. So he doesn't forget the sandwich because my mum's so over making him ham and cheese sandwiches that she goes, put your car keys on top of it.

I don't reckon any crook's going to find those because no one's going to break in and be like, I might just have a little bit of chicken while I'm robbing this house. Well, yeah, and then if he goes to the fridge in the middle of the night and the light's not working, he eats the car keys. There's a whole world of problems happening. You're right, you're right. But in this instance with this story about someone being sort of stranded on the side of the road, if somebody came across this,

what would you say is the best course of action? Because I think most people empathetically would want to go and help someone who's in need. For sure. Look, there's a couple of things that you can do, and one of the first things you must do is situational awareness. And here, the matter you described, it was a quiet street. I think it was a cul-de-sac, the car strategically placed in the dark.

Well, alarm bells start to ring. Now, heaven forbid, if this is more complicated and you're driving and you've got a minor, maybe an infant in the car, you know, wow, things aren't going well. So situational awareness. Is it dark? Is there any lights around? Is there nobody around? So you're starting to think, well, how are things really going here? Assess it from your car.

While the windows are up and the doors are locked, have a look and see what you think. Is there bushes behind you that may harbour an offender? Is there an offender behind the car? Does the person on the ground really look that ill or injured? But first and foremost, your first response is triple O. Yeah, good call. Yeah, you're right. It's just one of those things, isn't it?

It's a tricky situation because at the end of the day, if it was real and you didn't help them and something happened, you'd never forgive yourself. But also you don't know if you get out and you put yourself in danger. So it's something that a lot of people would battle, I think. Also use your intuition. I mean, I doubt crooks have gone to NIDA and done a short course in acting. I think you'd be able to tell if someone on the ground is in real pain or is faking it.

No, because it's their job. It becomes their job. So they're very good at what they do. I would think that they'd probably get an Oscar. If you want to get out of the car, then you go to a different phase again. There's a thing called AAA, awareness. You're getting out of the car. Okay, so you're going to lock the car.

Now, AAA, awareness, looking around, what's actually happening? What is the situation? Is the person on the ground bleeding or what? So there's your awareness, and your assessment is, this is all crap. I'm going to get back in the car and drive off. Or you think, no, this is legit. So you're going to lend a hand. So awareness, assessment, and action.

Doing nothing on these situations, going in with just, oh, she'll be right on the day, is going to cost you and perhaps cost you dearly. All right, Jim Keogh, guys, former police superintendent, thank you for coming on The Pickup. Be vigilant out there, guys. Be careful. And if someone breaks into your house, let them take it.

Don't put up a fight because you don't know what could happen in that. altercation. And there's nothing more important. There's no thing that you own that's more important than your own safety. Unless you don't have insurance and maybe time off. I've got a lot of snacks in my glove box. I'd be pissed off if my car was taken. If your lunch box was taken. Alright. It's a TikTok. I need

to talk to you about a TikTok. Have you ever gone on a date with someone and something, you've gotten the ick, like you know the ick, right? Yes. You go on the date, it could be at dinner, they could order something disgusting, they could pick their nose, whatever it is. You're like, I'm so turned off right now. Yeah. There has been this TikTok going viral about this

ick that this girl got on a date and it's pretty funny. She went out to dinner with him, whatever. They went back to his apartment and she's like, oh, I'm just going to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. And she went into the bathroom and what she saw horrified her. A corpse in the bathtub. Fungal

cream. Worse. She saw none other than 17 herbal essence shampoos and body washes in the shower. Wait, so Hold on, why is that worse than a corpse? Empty bottles.

So this is why it's funny, right? Because it started this big debate, is this bad? So she's in the bathroom. She sees 17 bottles of Herbal Essence, the exact same one, the exact same flavour. No, I think you're drinking it. It's not a flavour. But they're not, smell, they're not all empty

and he hasn't just been lazy and hasn't taken them out. Some are empty, some are full, some are mid-length, some are three quarters. Like they're all different and there's 17 together. Now, she has TikTok'd live. She's in the bathroom. She's going, I don't know what to do. I think I need to, I think this is a red flag.

That's a good idea because he could be a creep, a serial killer. I think it's hilarious. I don't think 17 shampoo bottles is a red flag for a serial killer. I think the guy's just lazy. No, that is a red flag. What, is he holding them like it's a shrine? No, I think his mum just gets coupons and she gets like, she might have a VIP to her blessings.

I don't know. Yes, but what sort of man child doesn't finish a bottle of shampoo before opening up the next? Why has he opened all 17 at varying degrees of use? I must admit I have a lot of shampoo and conditioner in my showers, different levels of. How many bottles do you think you have? I'll take a photo when I get home.

I've got a lot. The last time I was in your shower, they were all very. Oh, it sounds like we showered together. They were very mouldy in the bottom, which makes me think you don't clean out your shower more so than just like collecting bottles. But I know this feeling when you're with someone or it's a new date or you're seeing someone for the first time

and you just notice something that's off and you go, Oh, that's odd. Should I worry about that or should I ignore it? I remember I've been on a date once and I went back to their house and in his room it was just filled, shelves, the bed, the bedside table, there was a chair in the corner. It was filled with, like, soft toys. What, like he was collecting teddy bears?

And it was a real Australian theme. So, like, a lot of Australian animals. What, Pauline Hanson stuffed toy? Bright red hair on this doll What do you do if you get to a man's house A grown man and he's got a collection Of teddies It's not like it, no because it's nothing crazy

But it's also enough to be like ooh I don't know if I'm into this What made you leave the house, what made you leave the date Bella, what happened to you Yes, hello guys Now look I Hear you with the soft toys and I'm going To take it higher so I was seeing this guy about

The third date right and I was like Yeah, cool. I like him. We were doing a Netflix and chill session. And we got in there. We had our popcorn. We had our Maltesers. I was all ready.

And, you know, fluffed up the hair, all that kind of thing. And you know how it comes up like recently watched on your Netflix? Oh, no. Yeah, like last programs that you've been watching. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like continue watching, whatever. And there was just all these kids shows. Oh, no. Like Bluey.

Oh, the Wiggles. No. Dora. No. Maybe he shares his subscription with someone who has a kid. Yeah, Bella. Or he's got like a nephew or like. No, because they had their own signing.

And I asked him, I was like, do you have a nephew or a niece or. Oh, no. No, he was an only child. And he was watching the Wiggles. Yes. Did you question him on it? I mean, I know they do some good songs, but come on. Did you get the big red car and zoot out of there?

I was gone. I was literally gone before he could even order dinner. Like I was just like, okay. This is the thing. It's a thing, right? It's not, it's nothing, it's like, he's not a serial killer, but it's something that's like, it's just not right. Georgia, why did you leave the date?

I went home with a guy after the club and upon coming into his house, in his bedroom, he had posters, but they weren't just like normal posters. They were the old, you know, in the middle of the magazine, the half-page ones that you pull out and put on your wall. And they were of like Nelly and Neo and I think that was on Charul. I'm talking like a 27-year-old man with magazine cutouts on his wall. It was cringeworthy. It was like R&B.

Did you leave? Were you like, I'm sorry, I can't be intimate with a man who's got cutouts of his favourite rappers on the wall? Or just say, it's getting hard in here. Take off all my clothes. The music is not playing. After you guys get intimate, it's like, do you want to read a copy of Dolly? We can read Dolly Doctor together.

I once went home with a guy who put on the, what's the song? Let's do it. Ride it. How does it go? My pony. And I was like, this has got to be satirical. Wait. And it wasn't.

Did you? No. She rode it. Oh, we did another time, but not that time.